A Black's Life
by Slytherin Cat
Summary: Narcissa has always loved money. But sometimes there are things most important in life.


OS written for the Actor Quote Competition on the HPFC. This one is for Narcissa: _"I was lucky to learn early in life that you need money for food and shelter, but there's no ambition in having money in the bank for the sake of it."_ Also written for Your Favorite House Boot Camp for the prompt "in the end it doesn't matter".

Hope you enjoy this, and don't forget to review ;)

**A Black's Life**

I was lucky to learn early in life that you need money for food and shelter. Being a Black, my parents taught me and my sisters the importance of money very early on. I'm afraid that the lesson didn't stick as much with them as with me.

Even though Bella married a pureblood wizard who was the heir of an Ancient and rich family, they both didn't seem at all interested in preserving their wealth and the family name. She and her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, had joined the dark Lord's service as soon as they left Hogwarts and had already expressed enthusiasm while at the school.

They gave everything to their Lord. Their loyalty, their money, their magic and even the glory of their names. Before the Dark Lord took them amongst his Death Eaters, the Lestrange name was a well-respected one and their fortune great. After, well, Bella had been driven mad (and Azkaban didn't help her getting better), their names was associated with pain, death and hate and their fortune had diminished.

War cost money after all. And the Dark Lord had no qualms about using what belonged to his followers.

As for Andromeda, well she ran off with a Mudblood wizard. A Hufflepuff of all people. But Andromeda had always been different, disdaining their parent's lessons and the Dark.

As for me, Narcissa, well I realized very early who I wanted to be. I wanted to continue living my life the way I already lived it. And for that I needed money. It wouldn't do for a pureblood witch not to be married before her twentieth birthday however, so I didn't have many years to find a husband.

Contrary to my oldest sister, my parents hadn't engaged me to someone as soon as I was born. As I was their third child my parents had allowed me more leeway. I have been able to choose my own husband.

Not that it had been difficult. I was sorted in Slytherin like the rest of my family, except for our cousin Sirius of course but he had always been kin of a rebel. Too much time spent with his uncle Alphard I supposed.

I say easy because it's in Slytherin that are sorted most of the rich pureblood, or at least the influential ones. There was also an occasional half-blood, of course but as long as he was rich and powerful enough I could marry him.

In my fifth year I was finally noticed by a guy. I always knew my looks worked for me. I didn't have the dark beauty of Bellatrix nor the exotic one of Andromeda, but I had inherited my mother's blonde hair and blue eyes. This, with my aristocratic features gave me the looks of a porcelain doll and my mother always made sure I knew it. She was very proud of me.

His name was Lucius Malfoy. He was everything I ever dreamed of. Handsome, powerful, pureblood and _rich_. Our parents approved of course immediately. I graduated from Hogwarts with honors and we married right after school.

It was magnificent wedding, a true work of art. Even now after the birth of my son I can't remember a happier day in my life. Those were the good days.

Unfortunately Lucius wasn't as perfect as he seemed in the end. It seemed that all he was interested in was profit and his own life. In some way he was the perfect Slytherin, but that wasn't what I had wanted in her own life. I wanted to be somewhat happy at least and when I watched my parents interact I knew I wanted something different.

Even though I wasn't anywhere near as rebellious as my sister or (Morgana forbid) my cousin, I did go to the Muggle world a few times. Couples were so free there and for a while I wanted that more than anything. Then I met Lucius and I honestly thought he would be the one for me.

The first year of our marriage was happy. I had everything I could have ever wanted. And then Lucius joined the Dark Lord too. He said that it would bring glory to our family. To me glory was just a mean to an end, the end being myself living in luxury.

To tell the truth I don't think I was ever naïve enough to believe what he told me about the Dark Lord. I just had always been taught that a woman had to follow her husband and obey him in everything, and Lucius always seemed so intelligent that I trusted him. After his Lord fell, I realized that maybe I shouldn't have followed him so blindly.

He had given me everything I wanted when I asked for them, but I didn't live in as much luxury as I had expected to. I didn't see the point, really. Lucius was always really ambitious, but there's no ambition in having money in the bank for the sake of it. When I told him so he decided that I was asking too many questions for my own good and restricted my access to our accounts. He also restricted what little freedom I had, not allowing me to leave our Manor most of the time.

My fairytale was slowly becoming a nightmare and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

He wasn't violent, no, far from it but he was too controlling. I couldn't believe I had never seen it before. I had always prized myself with my observation skills but I guess the saying is true and that love really can blind oneself to life and truth.

The only thing I had left was my family, particularly my son. I know my husband loves me even if he only tells me so rarely, but I couldn't help but hate him most of the time. He took what should have been my perfect life and transformed it into something less than perfect. It seemed that it was the fate of nearly all pureblood women, as I could see that the other women I frequented were just as happy as myself with their own lives.

It was why now, as the Dark Lord asked me to check if Potter, the boy my son and husband always hated, that I hated (because he was a threat to our lives, to what I wanted) and I found him still alive, I had to know. If the one thing I still thought precious in this world was alive. Was my son dead? I had to know. I owed it to my family.

For us pureblood family is and has always been the most important thing (I suspect it will also be but as I am no seer I will not risk any predictions).

Money, fame, power, love, everything I had craved for and had been deprived of, in the end all of it doesn't matter faced to family.

"_Harry Potter is dead."_

My loyalty never was to any Lord. I was a Black, born and raised before I married a Malfoy. Our loyalty goes to the family. And right now that means I had to get to my son.


End file.
